From Human Perspective
by appa-appa-away
Summary: I was sick of not being able to see one because of the other and I was sick of the fighting. Well, I guess that neither of them are fully human, so I guess that I couldn't expect them to see it all from human perspective.


**Random little something I came up with. I just started reading Eclipse, so this is set randomly (make up on your own what led up to this) before Edward lets Bella go and see Jacob again. So, Bella trying to resolve conflict between Edward and Jacob. Don't bag me out if I'm no good at this - it's not usually something I write fanfics for. **

**Anyway, Read and Review, and most importantly, enjoy!**

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**From Human Perspective **

"STOP!" I demanded. I'd heard them fight over this too many times over – always the same thing, always the same result and always about to happen again, any time they crossed each other.

Jacob and Edward looked sharply towards me, the glare they had been giving each other not leaving their beautiful features. I sucked in a deep breath, ready to rant, but Edward cut me off.

"Bella, please," he begged, face softening ever so slightly. "Try to understand – try to see things the way I do. _He _is a –"

"I know what he is, damn it!" I shouted. I'd had enough – it was my turn to fight. "Now why don't _you _– _both _of _you_" – I looked furiously between them – "try to understand and see things _my_ way?!"

Astonished at my sudden outburst, both boys fell silent, their glaring faces dissolving. In their stunned silence, I continued.

"Every time you two are anywhere _near_ each other, it's always the same thing – fight, fight, fight!" I emphasized each of the last three words with a childish stamp of my foot. "It's always about the same thing – who's gonna get me? It's always the same – Edward doesn't want me near Jacob because he's a werewolf, Jacob doesn't want me near Edward because he's a vampire!"

"He's an unpredictable bloodsucker," Jacob mumbled under his breath.

"Jake, shut _up_."

His jaws snapped shut and his lips pressed together in a tight line. He looked at his large feet, such a long way down from his head, and did not look back up as I spoke on.

"Both of you act as if I'm not safe with the other. Edward, you think that because he's a werewolf," – I pointed at Jacob – "a _young_ werewolf at that, that he is potentially dangerous, and that if I'm left alone with him, he is most likely going to kill me."

Edward's eyes were liquid onyx, so black I was sure he must be the reason midnight existed. The pale marble skin on his forehead was creased as he frowned at me, staring straight into my eyes. For a moment, I faltered to find words that made sense, but I refused to let his god-like charms get the better of me this time – I _had_ to keep myself together.

"And Jacob," I looked towards him and he looked back up from the ground, "you don't want me near Edward because you think that he'll steal me away from you. Ok, I'll admit that he stubbornly _refuses_ to let me visit you at La Push or go anywhere where I'll be in immediate contact with you, but you _know_ that he's only trying to protect me – keep me safe!"

"But, Bella –"

"Let me finish!" I cut him off. He looked back down at his feet.

"You hate it when I'm with him, and you're scared that he'll turn me into one of them – the thing is, you never seem to give a thought to the fact that I might _want _to become what he is – part of his family!"

Jacob Black looked up at me, and that look reminded me of something. I had a sense of déjà vu wash over me as I remembered the day Edward had driven me home from school and we'd found my red motorcycle sitting in the driveway. The looked he'd given Edward, the way he'd looked at me when he told me that he couldn't keep his promise to be my friend anymore… Suddenly, the memories I had of him smiling warmly – being _my _Jacob – since that day were all gone, and the last and only memory I could recall of his face was the same one I'd been left with that night – one of his face scrunched up in pain as I walked away from him in Edward's arms.

Shaking my head, I tried to block out that image and concentrate on the one in front of me – that would at least be better than the pained expression he held inside my head.

Once again, I sucked in a deep breath before I continued.

"Then you're both afraid that the other is going to lose control while around me," I pressed on, ignoring the way they shot sidelong glances and glares at each other. "Edward, you're so scared that he'll get angry and morph, and then he won't be able to stop himself from hurting me. Jacob, you're scared that the sent of my blood will just be too overpowering for him – too tempting – and he'll just give in to me."

Jacob looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet as I glared first at him and then at Edward for the looks they'd been giving each other while I'd been speaking. When my gaze shifted to Edward, I noticed the way his lips pressed tighter together, as if it were actually possible. Of course, being Edward, he still looked amazingly breathtaking, even with the displeased grimace in place.

"You think of each other as monsters, but what you don't see is…" I trailed off, fumbling for words. My heart missed a beat as I realized I was letting him distract me again. I blinked unintelligently and shook that thought out of my head. To distract myself from my distraction, I looked instead at Jacob. "You're both equally dangerous if you want to be," I said quietly.

Jake seemed to feel my eyes on him – either that or it was the suddenly gentle tone of voice I was using – and looked up. His lips were parted and his brow furrowed. I went on.

"Either of you could easily kill me if you wanted to," I said, "either of you are perfectly capable of losing control."

At this, I saw Jake's eyes dart towards Edward and I scowled at him when he met my gaze again. His eyes flickered down for a moment and then back up. That was when I noticed how he hunched his shoulders, as if feeling guilty.

"But what you don't see in _that_ is the fact that, although you're perfectly capable of doing it, I think… I _know _that neither of you would do that."

I saw their eyes widen as they looked up at me. Then Edward scowled and I turned to face him, full on.

"Bella, you don't know what you're saying. You don't have any idea –"

"You both have perfect control of yourselves when you want to!" I shouted, insistent.

He shut up, pressing his lips back into that hard, straight line. I continued.

"So listen here." Another deep breath before I continued. "I've had enough of all of this – the fighting, the disagreeing, the glaring at each other, the name calling –" My eyes focused on Jacob for a longer moment than was necessary as I said that last one, "_everything_. And I'm sick of letting you two deal with it yourselves, while I stand around and have to suffer listening to you two arguing!"

"Bella –"

"No Edward!" I yelled again, helplessly praying that he'd just _listen_. "Here's the deal," I stated, looking between them to make sure I had their attention. "Edward, I love you and I always will, there's no force in heaven, hell or on earth, that can change that, not even you, Jacob," I hissed. I had to pause for a moment to keep my voice from breaking. "And I'm _in _love with you, Edward," I confessed myself – although he already knew this.

If I wasn't mistaken, his eyes lightened by half a fraction – came just a little closer to returning to that golden butterscotch – and the corner of his mouth turn up just slightly in that crooked half smile I loved so much.

_Breathe in, breathe out,_ I reminded myself, stupidly.

"And Jake… oh Jacob, I think you know how much I love you," I said, turning away from Edward so I wouldn't have to see his face. I knew that he knew what I meant by that – cared for him, worried and cherished him unconditionally. But that was it; I wasn't _in_ love with Jacob. Nonetheless, I knew that it would pass through Edward's head, even though he knew it was untrue. "You're my best friend, and every time I can't come an see you because _he_" – I jerked my head in Edward's direction – "wouldn't let me, that hole that came to my chest when he left and kept reopening until he came back reopened once more for you."

I saw Jacob smile openly at this and his shoulders slumped.

"Really?" Jake asked.

I smiled back at him for a moment, my eyes serious but gentle. "Really," I nodded.

As I continued, I kept glancing between them.

"So, this is it. Here and now, you're _both_ going to make a choice. Either you both have me –" I could practically feel Jacob holding his breath as I spoke, but Edward had composed himself perfectly like he usually tried when he was expecting himself to be in a bad mood. "Or neither of you have me."

Both of the boys, taller than you and beautiful, stared blankly at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jacob demanded, frustration cutting through his voice.

"It means that if you two can't _share _me," I explained, emphasizing that key word, "then _neither_ of you are going to get me. Either you accept that I'm with a vampire, and Edward accepts that I'm best friends with you – werewolf or not – or I will go and find a new best friend" – the last bit was choked out; the thought of not having Jake as my best friend pained me to no extent – "and I'll… I'll…"

I was looking back at Edward now. Helplessly, I tried to find the words I wanted to use. They were there – _right _there – on the very tip of my tongue. But every time I tried to force them back, they seemed to role backwards, until I found that they were stuck in my throat with no chance of escape. I pressed my suddenly trembling lips together, because the thought of what I had been about to say horrified me to no extent beyond what I'd just said to Jacob… that was pretty horrifying.

There were tears in my eyes, and I acknowledged the fact that I was angry. But the question was, who was I angry at? Edward? Jacob? Edward _and_ Jacob perhaps? Or was I angry at myself? It seemed perfectly plausible to be angry at myself at this point in time. If I'd just stayed with Renée in Phoenix… or if I'd just left Edward to hate me and not tried to make him like me, not make conversation with him, stayed away from him like he'd suggested was smart… maybe none of this would have happened and I wouldn't have my vampire boyfriend and werewolf best friend fighting with each other about who I am and aren't allowed to be around.

But they were the ones being narrow minded – that's what I was trying to point out. I was trying to make them see it from my point of view – from human perspective.

Ok, so maybe it was all three of us.

I looked back into Edward's eyes and blinked back my tears. His face wasn't composed into its calm mask anymore. His face was completely expressionless. As I looked at him, I knew that I didn't need to finish my sentence – he knew what I'd been trying to say.

Looking at Jake next, I realized that he too had figured out what I'd been saying. It was a shock to him – did he honestly think that after all of this fighting I _wouldn't_ end up taking things to the extreme if I had to? Even if I would end up hurting _all_ of us by doing it?

"I'm not saying that you two have to get along," I said quietly. But I knew they could both hear me. "God, if you two got along I would honestly consider that there is a third magical, mythical, supernatural or fantasy creature at work here!" I laughed, but it was bitter. Then I sighed, "All I want is for you two to trust each other enough to share me between you – to let me spend time along with _both _of you separately."

There was silence in the room, the kind that rang and pressed down on your ears. It was scary as I waited for one of them to speak. I just wished they'd hurry up.

"Bella, look," Edward started. I tried not to sigh. "It's… it's not exactly that I don't trust _him_. I just don't trust what he _is_."

"A werewolf?" Jacob clarified.

Edward nodded and I rolled my eyes at how discriminative and insensitive they could both be at times.

"Just like you don't like me because I'm a vampire."

Jacob allowed that, but stiffened, nonetheless.

"Listen, guys, I don't _care_ what you are. To me, you're both more people in my life. I'll admit that you're the two people who aren't in my immediate family who mean the _most_ to me, but you're still just people to me. I-I don't care if… you're human, or not… or if you drink blood," I looked to Edward, "or if you morph into a wolf," I looked at Jacob. "I _need_ you both to be there for me – my lover," back to Edward, "and my best friend," Jacob.

"You really mean that, don't you?" Jake asked softly, his dark eyes shining with liquid. He didn't let his tears fall though.

I nodded in response.

"So there, both or neither?" I summed it up.

No more stalling, no more waiting… and please, for peace sake, no more fighting! Just pick one option or the other, and I'll go along with whichever, even if it's the one that will surely kill me… the way I _didn't _want to die.

The boys looked at each other for a moment.

"She's serious. You do know that, right?" Jacob asked in disbelief, trying his best to hide the scowl that threatened to throw itself at Edward.

"Yes, I do know," he sighed.

"I guess… we're going to have to… _share_ her?" He tasted the word on his tongue as if he'd never heard it before. "I think we'd rather that then go without her – if I'm correct, you and I both need her about as much as she needs both of us."

I could tell he was forcing the words out, for my sake. Jake really knew me better than I gave him credit for. And although his words were spoken grudgingly, he meant them and he knew they were true. Edward understood this too.

"Very well," Edward nodded. "_Sharing_."

Something about the way they both stood told me this wasn't over. Something in their eyes as they looked at each other told me that this wasn't the end.

"Thank you," I breathed, finally given the answer I'd wanted.

I didn't wait for either of them to say something else. I didn't want my relief to suddenly flood out of me because one of them said something that contradicted the new agreement. I turned as sharply as I could on my heels – being careful to keep my poor balance – and walked out of the room, the two boys staring after me.

A few minutes later, I could hear them throwing insults at each other again.

_Typical_, I thought to myself in dismay. Biting my lip, I walked away, hoping that neither of them would end up hurt… or dead.

But I guess I'd gotten my hopes up too high. After all, how could I possibly expect them to understand? How could I have expected them to see it all the way I did? – from human perspective.

Neither of them was fully human. Once upon a time they had been, but not anymore. That's why, when it all added up, I was the only one who could truly see if from human perspective…

Man, that sucked.

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**How did I do? I thought I'd end it on a slightly humourous note. **

**Well, I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review. And if you're interested in Avatar: The Last Airbender or Lord of the Rings, the please go and read some other fics by my ^_^**

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